The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1887-11-24

/ The further debasemcnt of the pris-
oncr after his incarceration is so de
I plorable that his moral condition is of
the deepest concern to all right think
ing people. To take from him his per-
sonal freedom and then plunge him
into cessponl of crime and infamy is
/ too base Il crime against morality to
bear dispassionatc discussion.
There has been nobody vet with the
hardihoOd to assert that there ever has
been under lessee auspices anything
that could he seriously termed sys-
temof
MORAL DISCIPLINE.
Crowded like sheep in shambleS in
convict camps everything is ncccss All
lv merged into the crude problem of
feeding and guarding these prisoners.
There is no time or opportunity, if
there existed the inclination, to pre-
scribe any just and moral system to
preserve the remnant of manhood left
these poor wretchcs, or to elevate
them in the scale of morality. There
is the one dead level of the leather
strap for the bare back of the poor I'M
fortunate who lags in his work: and
on the other hand the reward of pro-
motion as IL "trusty" for the convict
who finds favor i'll the eyes ofhis task
master. And the degrading distinc
ton is sometimes conferred upon him
of guarding his less fortunate fellow
cOnvicts.
In every well regulated government
prison convict is taught that he is
STILL \ CITIZEN
owing a duty to himself and to the
State, not the slave of private indi
vidual, but in the custody of his gov
garb he can earn for himself the char
acter of Il good prisoner, and thus
lessen the term of his imprison-
mcnt.
The leasing system of convictS pre-
SCENTS the contrast between right and
wrong system as no words or language
can portray il. 1t is practically a pc
culiar form of slavery without the re
deeming features of the maSter'specu-
mary interest i'll the well-being of his
slave.
If it is degrading and
DEBASING To IT'S VICTIMS.
Who can measure the indirect moral
effect upon community that know
ingly tolerates an institution so full
of injustice and cruelty to IA class of
victims, whose unfortunate lot has APP
pealed. since the advent of our Lord,
to the sympathy of al Christian
souls!
The sense of justice of mankind re-
volts against it. And the moral sense
of all good citizens is shocked 10y its
brutaliticS and cruel SeltiShncss and
greed. The spectacle of a State
that boasts of its liberal support of
educational establishments Sinking
Il plain duty to the most friendlcsS
of its citizens. turning them over to Il
railroad corporation or private indi-
viduals for the sake of IL few paltry
dollars. is humiliating in the extreme
to the vast majority of its citi-
ZcnS.
y moral principle can never he rele-
gated to "a question of dollars and
cents. And it is time that the reiter-
atcd plea of poverty should offend
the intelligence and pride of the peo-
pie of Mississippi.
SecOnd-Even if the leasing of the
convicts was not wong upon princi-
pie, it is so full of
EVILS AND ABUSES
that it should be abolished. Under
this system there is no conceivable
reason why the convict should not
emerge from his sentence more vicious
and depraved than he was when he
entered upon his term of servitude:
why he should not leave the convict
camps full of hatred of his government
and an enemy to society.
Does good conduct give him any re-
ward to take away day of his long
term of imprisonment? Driven like a
beast of burden, where are the intluen-
ces that can inspire him with hope or
lessen the void of Il deep despair! In
the face of physical sutferings, long
continued, where is the courage that
will not succumb! But it is useless
to argue the question of the moral feat
ures of the convict camp.
will turn to the question of the
PHYSICAL TREATMENT
of convicts under leasing system. In
none of these respects is Mississippi
peculiar. The convict camp under
the leasing system is substantially the
same wherever it exists. Huddled in
kind of shamble, made of poles sew
eral inches apart, board roof, dirt floor,
platforms of bare boards for hunks,
three tiers high; no disinfectants of
/ : go